10 Free Online Libraries

Published on 21 February 2023 at 10:46

My community banned books about people like me. Where can I get those books online?

Free, public libraries are wonderful resources for local communities. While they are best known for housing wide ranges of books from literary masterpieces to obscure novels, from picture books to reference texts, and everything in between, many also offer a safe space to hang out after school, work spaces, computers, community programs and events, classes, or other supports like job search assistance or English language learning.
 
Libraries have long been understood as a nonpolitical place that welcomes every person and point of view, but communities around the United States are banning books containing content about the LGBTQ2IA+ community, people of color, or similar topics perceived as controversial such as criticism of instances of police violence and exclusionary religious practices. as these books are removed from libraries and schools, they become increasingly difficult to access, often by people most in need of these resources.
 
The list below contains all the FREE libraries I could find that are accessible online to people from outside the local community. Where noteworthy, I have marked restrictions (for example: state libraries that accept users from other counties in the state, but not users from neighboring states).
 
This list may change as libraries change their policies. If you are aware of a library that should be on this list but isn't, I invite you to let me know in the comments below. As always, please be respectful to your fellow humans as you interact in the comments. Any hateful or offensive language will be removed.

Image Description: A close-up photo of a bookshelf with aged books standing up with the bindings facing out. The bindings are shades of red, blue, black, and cream with gold print and embellishments.

Credit: Webador

Free Libraries You Can Access Online:

  1. Authorama: This website houses books that have fallen into the public domain. There are no restrictions to readers. It is not designed for mobile devices, so if you are reading from your phone, you will have to zoom in to read. Available books are listed on the home page in alphabetical order of the authors' last names. A few books have been banned at various times and places, including Frankenstein (Mary Shelley), Ulysses (James Joyce), and Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll).
  2. Bibliomania: This website holds over 2,000 classic literature, drama, and poetry as well as short stories, reference books, biographies, and more. You can search books by title or author. The website is a little clunky and was experiencing technical difficulties when I last visited, but appears to have a long list of books. A couple banned books include: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain), and The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde).
  3. Classic Bookshelf: Find free classics on Classic Bookshelf. Their free app helps make reading easier on mobile devices.
  4. Classical Reader: More classic books that have been banned in various places and times are available at this website. You can search by grade, reading level, genre, author, and notation (such as awards won). A few books include: Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury), and 1984 and Animal Farm (George Orwell).
  5. Digital Public Library of America: The last time I looked, the DPL hosted 47,210,791 pieces of content, from texts and videos to sounds and images. They also offer Palace Bookshelf from which you can download open access ebooks for free. This is also a great resource for learning American history, including some aspects of history that may have been left out of the classroom.
  6. Fiction.us: Find novels, short stories, picture books, poetry, and plays at Fiction.us. Although you won't find as many recent books, you can find previously banned books like My Antonia (Willa Cather), The Awakening (Kate Chopin), The Jungle (Upton Sinclair).
  7. Google Books: More recently banned books will be easier to find here than on some of the site geared towards classical Western literature. Books are easy to search and easy to read. A few banned books available here include: All American Boys (Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely), Sex is a Funny Word (Cory Silverberg), A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (Jill Twiss).
  8. International Children's Digital Library: This site celebrates ethnic diversity through children's literature and is available to anyone anywhere who has access to an internet connection. You can find books in 76 languages!
  9. Internet Archive: When I last checked their website, Internet Archive held 37 million books, 9.2 million movies, 2.5 million television shows, and more. They also have a section of books that are accessible to people with disabilities that impact reading printed text. You must sign up to be a member to access this Archive.
  10. The Literature Network: You can pick from 3,500 books and 4,400 short stories and poems. They also offer forums to discuss literature with other readers. Most books on this site are classics, but many classics were banned when they were first released. Some still are!
 
I hope you enjoy reading from one of the online libraries above. If not, there are other online library resources that I share through this resource page. Take a look around and keep reading!

Sources:

“Classical Reader.” Classical Reader. Accessed February 17, 2023. http://www.classicalreader.com/.

Digital Public Library of America. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://dp.la/.

Fiction.US. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://fiction.us/.

“Free Online Literature and Study Guides.” Bibliomania. Accessed February 17, 2023. http://www.bibliomania.com/.

Google books. Google. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://books.google.com/.

ICDL - International Children's Digital Library. Accessed February 17, 2023. http://www.childrenslibrary.org/.

“Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine.” Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://archive.org/.

Lenssen, Philipp. “Authorama Public Domain Books.” Authorama. Accessed February 17, 2023. http://www.authorama.com/.

“New Books from Old.” Free Electronic Books Online. Accessed February 17, 2023. http://www.classicbookshelf.com/.

“Welcome to the Literature Network!” The Literature Network: Online classic literature, poems, and quotes. Essays & Summaries. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://www.online-literature.com/.

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